Bad weather can be bad news for meal delivery programs

When Mother Nature serves bad weather, many home bound north country residents may go without a fresh, hot lunch.

Senior citizen nutrition programs and Meals on Wheels agencies throughout the area have dozens of volunteers that drive through white-out conditions and walk through piles of slush and slippery sidewalks, but on occasion are not able to deliver meals to some seniors or the home bound. Representatives from those various agencies throughout the three counties said this winter has been one of the toughest in years, as they periodically had to shut down deliveries.

With the ice we had, we had numerous falls from staff and volunteers, said Diana J. McCormick, meal program manager with the St. Lawrence County Home Delivered Meals Program. With the ice storm and snow storms, its been crazy. Weve been hit hard in Edwards and Star Lake.

One day in Edwards, she said, delivery vehicles were iced over so much that they had to be towed out of the parking lot, and dropped off at a garage to be de-iced.

Ms. McCormick said staff members call her around 8 a.m. each morning to give her weather reports, and after following up with road patrols and assessing the conditions she will decide if and when deliveries will be canceled for the day. She said she didnt have a count of the number of days shes had to cancel so far this winter, but all 375 people who receive meals daily will get a call from program staff to see if they have other food in their home.

Aside from meal delivery, the eight congregate meal sites throughout St. Lawrence County also have been shut down due to bad weather before, as there are only five kitchens throughout the county. If meals are prepped in Morristown, but weather is too bad, they wont be delivered to Ogdensburg, she said.

Situations like that are why the St. Lawrence County Home Delivered Meals Program delivers frozen meals with re-heating instructions to program recipients in November, so there is a back-up meal. That same concept also is done through the Massena Meals on Wheels program, according to Executive Director Jessica J. Fregoe.

Once they use that meal, we replenish it, she said.

The Massena Meals on Wheels only shut down delivery one day this winter, during the first big snow storm in early December, Mrs. Fregoe said. Meal preparation begins at 7 a.m. daily, but she said shes usually up by 5 a.m. to continuously check the weather. The program serves about 101 people daily throughout Massena, Louisville, and Norfolk.

Protecting staff and volunteers from being out in sub-zero temperatures, and from walking on glare ice are some of the main reasons meal delivers may be shut down, organizers said. For the Meals on Wheels program that covers the city of Watertown and the five-mile radius around it, this winter has proven to be the worst in many years.

In a normal winter you get pockets with a day or two of a snow storm, said Donna L. White, program director. This year, it seems like every day is an issue. We canceled on Jan. 7  everything that day came to a standstill.

That day was the first time in about 15 years that the whole program shut down, she said. Canceling a days meal delivery to an average of about 75 people had never been an issue, she said, but the core group of older volunteers is being more cautious about going out in bad weather. To help ease volunteers and recipients worries, Ms. White said, the Board of Directors will consider prepping emergency meals.

To help ease that burden in Lewis County, when the Office for the Agings contract caterer prepares a hot meal for Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, frozen meals are also delivered Mondays and Wednesdays for people to eat on Tuesdays and Fridays, according to agency director Brenda J. Bourgeois.

That pre-planning method came in handy, she said, when the agencys nutrition programs six meal sites were closed one day in December and up to four days in January due to inclement weather. A total 1,405 meals were served at meal sites at Copenhagen, Croghan, Harrisville, Lowville, Lyons Falls, and Osceola, and another 2,377 were delivered to senior citizens and the homebound throughout Lewis County.

While this winter may surprise some local residents with the many temporary road closures, accidents and various cancellations and closings, Ms. Bourgeois said its all just a reminder of how north country winters used to be.